A Free Will Experience (Inspired by other Free Will Challenges)

*Note - I apologize for the wall of text coming up, but I wanted to give my thoughts on everything, a final summary if you will.

"BreeMiles;c-17209900" wrote:
@Karababy52 :o :o :o :o I was not expecting that to happen at all! I have never had sims do that in the pool before! 5 Days was a good run though. I think my first time doing the challenge it only lasted 1 day, before one of the sims burned the house down! Not naming names :D

I had a feeling it was going to happen to one of them the way they couldn't resist that back float option and were always exhausted when they tried it. Whitney was at a disadvantage over the others too since she only worked part-time, 4 hours a day. That gave her more time to get into trouble.

I had the seasons set for 14 days, so didn't even make it to the halfway mark. I was/am disappointed. 1 day though, yeah, that's a bummer. I guess I got lucky that none of my contestants started a fire. I kept expecting they would when cooking at such a low level, but it never happened. One thing that I think helped with my Sims is very, very rarely did any of them cook just a meal for themselves, it was always a group meal. Because of that there wasn't a lot of cooking going on. The WW fruitcake helped satisfy their hunger needs the first day too.

I've learned a lot about our Sims and full autonomy/free will while doing this challenge. I think the biggest thing I learned was that despite what most believe, newly created Sims can not survive for very long on their own without our help. Now, if you were to start them out with some skills and safe-proof their lot for anything that might cause their demise, maybe they'd last awhile, I don't know.

I think the biggest factors that caused Whitney's death was #1, of course, the back float. But what contributed to that and made it so deadly was their exhaustion and hunger. Both these were compromised in a big way, in my opinion, by the glitch where Sims will put grilled food immediately in their inventory instead of placing it on a table and eat a serving right away. Other Sims would also have access to that food too.

It would've helped if they ate the spoiled food from their inventory, as gross as that sounds, but unlike your Sims, none of mine would eat it. They just pulled a plate out when hungry, set it down and then got stuck standing there, hungry and complaining only to pull another plate out and repeat the process. I hope that glitch is fixed soon, it's horrible. I used to rely on Townie grilled food in the parks for my Rags to Riches Sims too. Not anymore. I wish I'd known it was within the rules to pull the grilled food from their inventory and set the platter on a table like you did @ADWilson. I believe Whitney wouldn't have died and my challenge would still be going if I had done that.

Another big contributor to their exhaustion was the stereo. Not the lack of enough beds, they had plenty of places to sleep otherwise; the loveseats, the couch on the patio, as well as the lounge chairs. But that stereo being on 24/7 kept waking them up whenever they would try to nap on the loveseats. AND for whatever reason, when they could sleep in the beds, they didn't. That puzzles me. They'd rather do anything and everything other than sleep, despite being exhausted.

I'm thinking perhaps a bigger lot would've helped too, at least in the case of the 'play in the rain' animation. They didn't really have anywhere to run around is why they would do it in the house.

If I try this challenge again, I would definitely make some changes, such as; no grill, no pool, no stereo and a bigger lot. Also, I'd randomize the Sims more than I did and play with more of them. Having only four with their appearances/clothing tweaked to my liking only made it so I cared about them more. Don't get me wrong, it was fun doing it the way I did, but I got too involved in their 'stories' and personalities instead of treating it like an experiment. Perhaps then my Sims would be able to survive longer than not even 5 full days. lol

In light of that, is it even allowable to not place those objects? Or are they necessary to the experience? I might still give them a grill though now that I know we can drag the food out of their inventory. But the stereo and pool? Hopefully not required. *crosses fingers* Oh, I don't think I'll use a washer/dryer again either. It was cool Whitney/Nadine actually used them, but they only did the one load and then clothes started piling up everywhere after that.

I think I might be too much of a micromanager/perfectionist/softie for this experience. lol But I might give it another go, we'll see...

Just my thoughts on everything. :)

"ADWilson;c-17210273" wrote:
Just because it's available doesn't mean you have to eat it!

I wish mine had eaten their spoiled food. lol The look on his face is hilarious though. Soooo much swearing still going on with your group. Are you still getting thunderstorms? Or is it just their 'nature' to swear so much? lol Good idea making another bathroom. Too bad your Sims seemed to gravitate toward one still though. Sheesh! Silly Sims! Doodle sure seems to be having fun though eh? Loves those puddles to play in at least. So cute! Looking forward to the next day! <3



Happy Simming! <3